2016 Oscar predictions: Technical Categories

All roads lead to the gold on Sunday night as the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science present the 88th Academy Awards as some of Hollywood’s A-listers get their speeches ready for their impending win. Ten years after hosting it the first-time around, comedian Chris Rock will once again host the Oscars. With Rock as the master of ceremonies, you can bet he is going to take a shot at Hollywood with the recent lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations. This week, we will look at all the categories that are looking to win the little golden man.

Best Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling and Production Design

Just like one of last year’s Best Picture contenders “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” is going to have to settle for winning big in the technical categories. With BAFTA giving the Best Costume, Best Makeup and Hair and Best Production Design awards to this action masterpiece, there is a big chance that they will win the Oscar in those very same categories. The film’s win at Art Directors Guild, the Costume Designers Guild and the Hollywood Makeup Artist & Hair Stylist Guild also help boosts its chances.

Best Costume Design

“Carol”

“Cinderella”

“The Revenant”

“The Danish Girl”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

Who Will/Should Win: “Mad Max: Fury Road”

Best Makeup & Hairstyling

“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

“The Revenant”

Who Will/Should Win: “Mad Max: Fury Road”

Best Production Design

“Bridge of Spies”

“The Danish Girl”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

“The Martian”

“The Revenant”

Who Will/Should Win: “Mad Max: Fury Road”

Best Visual Effects

“Ex Machina”

“The Martian”‘

“The Revenant”

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

All of these films are strong contenders in this category, but the Academy will likely favor the Force in this case. The Academy is always a sucker for nostalgia as it will probably award “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in this field as all three of the films in the original “Star Wars” trilogy won the same award. However, this big franchise’s chance for Oscar golf is not guaranteed as the second “Star Wars” trilogy failed to win in the category (Episode III was not even nominated in 2006). It would not be a surprise if “The Martian” or “The Revenant” walk away Sunday nightwith the statuette.

Who Will/Should Win: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Best Film Editing

“The Big Short”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

“The Revenant”

“Spotlight”

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

All four Best Picture contenders have a shot in this category, but “The Big Short” stands above the rest of the competition. It is showy in its frenetic and rapid-fire film editing, which means if it’s noticeable to the Academy, it will get the award.

Who Will/Should Win: “The Big Short”

Best Cinematography

“Carol” (Ed Lachman)

“The Hateful Eight” (Robert Richardson)

“Mad Max: Fury Road” (John Seale)

“The Revenant” (Emmanuel Lubezki)

“Sicario” (Roger Deakins)

This is simply not fair to Roger Deakins. For the second time in a row, the cinematographer will lose once again to Emmanuel Lubezki for the latter’s dazzling work on “The Revenant.” Lubezki will be making history as the second person in Oscar history to win an Academy Award for three consecutive years (the first is Roger Edens, who won in Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture three years in a row). This award will be the first of many Oscars to come on Sunday night and “The Revenant” haters will certain be displeased with that news.

Who Will Win: “The Revenant” (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Who Should Win: “Sicario” (Roger Deakins)

Next in this series of Oscar predictions: Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Score, Best Song, Best Documentary Feature, Best Foreign Language Feature and Best Animated Feature.